Phrasal Verbs Definition And Examples
A phrasal verb is a type of compound verb made up of a verb (usually one of action or movement) and a prepositional adverb—also known as an adverbial particle. Phrasal verbs are sometimes called two-part verbs (e.g., take off and leave out) or three-part verbs (e.g., look up to and look down on).
There are hundreds of phrasal verbs in English, many of them (such as tear off, run out [of], and pull through) with multiple meanings. Indeed, as linguist Angela Downing points out, phrasal verbs are 'one of the most distinctive features of present-day informal English, both in their abundance and in their productivity' (English Grammar: A University Course, 2014). Phrasal verbs often appear in idioms.
According to Logan Pearsall Smith in Words and Idioms (1925), the term phrasal verb was introduced by Henry Bradley, senior editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Examples and Observations
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'What you can't get out of, get into wholeheartedly.'
William Shakespeare
'Put out the light, and then put out the light.'
Frank Norris
'I never truckled; I never took off the hat to Fashion and held it out for pennies. By God, I told them the truth.'
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K.C. Cole
'Clots of excited children egged each other on, egged on their parents, egged on the blue-haired ladies and the teenage lovers and janitor who put down his mop to play.' Situs download video terlengkap selain youtube mp3.
Joseph Heller
'Major Major had never played basketball or any other game before, but his great, bobbing height and rapturous enthusiasm helped make up for his innate clumsiness and lack of experience.'
The Semantic Coherence of Phrasal Verbs
Laurel J. Brinton
'Like compounds, phrasal verbs have semantic coherence, evidenced by the fact that they are sometimes replaceable by single Latinate verbs, as in the following:
Furthermore, the meaning of the combination of verb and particle in the phrasal verb may be opaque, that is, not predictable from the meaning of the parts.'
– The Structure of Modern English: A Linguistic Introduction. John Benjamins, 2000)
- break out: erupt, escape
- count out: exclude
- think up: imagine
- take off: depart, remove
- work out: solve
- put off: delay
- egg on: incite
- put out: extinguish
- put off: postpone
Phrasal Verbs With Up
Ben Zimmer
'[P]hrasal verbs with up have filled a wide variety of roles in both British and American English. Up gets used for literal upward movement (lift up, stand up) or more figuratively to indicate greater intensity (stir up, fire up) or completion of an act (drink up, burn up). It’s particularly handy for blunt imperatives calling for resolute action: think of wake up!, grow up!, hurry up! and put up or shut up!'
– 'On Language: The Meaning of ‘Man Up.' The New York Times Magazine, September 5, 2010
Phrasal Verbs and Prepositional Verbs
'A phrasal verb differs from a sequence of a verb and a preposition (a prepositional verb) in [these] respects. Here call up is a phrasal verb, while call on is only a verb plus a preposition:
(R.L. Trask, Dictionary of English Grammar. Penguin, 2000)
- The particle in a phrasal verb is stressed: They called up the teacher, but not *They called on the teacher.
- The particle of a phrasal verb can be moved to the end: They called the teacher up, but not *They called the teacher on.
- The simple verb of a phrasal verb may not be separated from its particle by an adverb: *They called early up the teacher is no good, but They called early on the teacher is fine.'
Also Known As: compound verb, verb-adverb combination, verb-particle combination, two-part verb, three-part verb
What are Phrasal Verbs?
Phrasal verbs are verbs with two or three words:
main verb + particle (preposition or adverb)
Examples:
- I wake up at 7:30 every day.
- Please turn off the TV.
- My brother and I don’t get along. We fight all the time.
- She came up with a good idea.
Phrasal verbs are difficult because you often can’t understand the meaning of each expression from the words themselves. Also, many phrasal verbs are very similar (take up, take on, take in, take over, etc.) and a number of phrasal verbs have multiple meanings.
In this lesson, you’re going to learn 4 types of phrasal verbs and how each one functions in an English sentence.
Phrasal verbs can be transitive or intransitive.
Transitive phrasal verbs can be separable or inseparable.
Phrasal verbs in English are transitive or intransitive. The intransitive phrasal verbs can be separable or inseparable.
Intransitive Phrasal Verbs
Intransitive phrasal verbs have no direct object. (A direct object is “acted upon” by the verb).
Examples of intransitive phrasal verbs:
- I woke up at 10:30 AM.
- You can come over to my house after school.
- He’s going back to Russia next month.
Click here for a list of 15 intransitive phrasal verbs with example sentences.
Transitive Phrasal Verbs
Transitive phrasal verbs have a direct object.
Examples of transitive phrasal verbs (direct object is in blue):
- You need to fill out this form to register for the course.
(fill out = complete) - I’m going to cut down on fast food this year.
(cut down on = reduce) - Check out that website – it’s really great!
(check out = look at, go to)
Separable & Inseparable Phrasal Verbs
Transitive phrasal verbs can be separable or inseparable. If a phrasal verb is separable, it means you can separate the two words and put the direct object in the middle. If it is inseparable, then you can’t do this.
Separable Phrasal Verb Example: TURN OFF
- Please turn off the TV.
- Please turn the TV off.
Inseparable Phrasal Verb Example: LOOK AFTER
- I’ll look after your dog while you’re on vacation.
- I’ll look your dog after while you’re on vacation – INCORRECT
Word Order for Separable Phrasal Verbs
When the direct object is the specific name of a thing or person, it can be located after the phrasal verb or in the middle:
- I threw away the old pizza.
- = I threw the old pizza away.
However, when the direct object is a pronoun (me, you, him, her, us, them, it), then it MUST go in the middle:
- I threw it away.
- I threw away it. – INCORRECT
Here’s an example with a person:
- They’ll pick up John from the airport.
- = They’ll pick John up from the airport.
- = They’ll pick him up from the airport.
- They’ll pick up him from the airport. – INCORRECT
How do you know if a phrasal verb is transitive or intransitive and separable or inseparable?
Unfortunately, there’s no “rule” for looking at a phrasal verbs and knowing what type it is! The best way is just to study each phrasal verb in context with lots of examples.
You can learn 500 phrasal verbs and how they are used in spoken English if you register for the phrasal verbs course.